Zombies Are Real!

byMic Manaras

Zombies. They’re the walking dead; soulless, rotting humans who are on a mission to eat brains, usually the result of some kind of virus or spell. They’ve been wildly popularized in film and television over the last 50 years and people just can’t seem to get enough. But what if they were real?

I think they are real.

Rotting corpses? Eating brains? Spreading a virus? Well not literally… Actually, quite literally. The classic Hollywood horror portrayal is definitely not what I’m saying is roaming around, but if we dig a little deeper, zombies are definitely the metaphor for modern humans.

So let’s take a look at what makes up a zombie: their bodies are in a terribly rotted state because they’ve been infected with a virus, they have no real purpose other than to consume, they eat brains and their contribution to society is fear. One-on-one they’re easy to outsmart, but quite dangerous in large groups. When they do catch their prey, they feed and spread the virus, creating fresh new zombies to join the group.

Sound familiar?

I’m an observer, always have been and always will be, and these observations peak my curiosity and fuel my work. And when it comes to zombies, the parallels to human nature are unmistakable. I’m not going to pretend I’m the first person to realize zombies are a metaphor for society, obviously that’s what inspired the inception of zombies in the first place, but I do think it would be fun to see how literal the comparison really is.

Rotting Corpses

Rotting corpses? Well I don’t know about you, but if you look around, would you consider most people to be healthy? Would healthcare be such a prominent political priority if most people were healthy? I don’t think so. How many people do you know taking prescriptions? How many people do you know who suffer from heart disease, obesity, cancer, depression… The comparison of a body in an unhealthy state to a rotting corpse is literal.

Zombies are infected with some kind of virus that triggered their disease. In humans, diseases emerge when an immune system is compromised. Not to get too technical but 70% of our immune system lives within the gut, and when properly nourished with vitamins and minerals, our immune health thrives. But when the gut is malnourished due to the lack of nutrients (not food), coupled with the stress this creates internally, our immune system takes a beating and welcomes infection.

When junk food is cheaper than healthy food, and stress levels soar not only from life and the constant sensory overload of the modern day routine, but also internally beyond our conscious awareness; what do you think is going to happen? All this to say is the average lifestyle of the developed world is the leading cause of the zombie outbreak.

Zombies Are Always Hungry

Zombies can’t focus on anything other than consumption. I attribute this to their survival state. When a body is in constant stress because of its weakened immune system, then the hunt for something to numb the pain is priority one. In our case, instant gratification is what does the trick: shopping, eating, social media, toxic relationships, work, gambling, the news, porn, drugs… Pick your poison, they all release endorphins in the short term but only prolong the inevitable, actually making things much worse very quickly.

Like any quick fix, it only takes so long before higher dosages are required to feel the original euphoric benefits. Dependence and addiction are therefore created by continuing to subconsciously numb the pain, and since none one of these fixes provide any real nourishment or sustainable solutions, the immune system continues on a downward spiral, and as money continues to be thrown into the fire, the stresses of life have no choice but to skyrocket.

Now trapped in a loop, this downward spiral explains the predictability and desperation of the zombies who are now incapable of escaping their fate; their dependance to the instant gratification routine has them enslaved.

Zombies Eat Our Brains

How can you expect someone in this survival state to be able to contribute in any positive way? I’m not hating, I’m actually sympathizing. Most of what I’ve said in the last few paragraphs is happening on a subconscious level. People really want the best for themselves and the world around them. But in a world built so heavily on routine, it’s almost impossible to even be aware of our soaring stress levels because we have nothing else to compare to, and pretty much everyone around us is in the same boat.

We all have dreams and aspirations, we want to help, we want to grow. So when it comes to eating brains, I see it as the negative impact on our moral; they literally feed by draining our energy, consuming our hopes and dreams in the process. In order to achieve anything we need support, but if we’re surrounded by the infected, how could they support our ideas if their number one priority, on a subconscious level, is surviving the day; their capacity for long term thinking is paralyzed.

Fear is the Virus

We can all relate to having our ideas shot down and questioned to the point of giving up, especially by the ones we love most. But what if we just never realized the people closest to us might actually be infected? A person who’s begging on the street isn’t collecting money for their retirement, they’re focused on eating. So would we take investment advice from them? Same goes for someone in a hyper-stressed state, since they live in fear, they can’t encourage our dreams, instead they unknowingly pass on their fear to us, slowly infecting our brains with negativity.

Getting away from a toxic person is very hard work, but manageable. On a grand scale however, the belief systems of many (family, friends, society) contributes to us questioning our own sanity. When the norm seems to go against our dreams and aspirations, it becomes much harder to know whether we’re crazy or not. Are we the crazy ones in the world, or the sane ones stuck in the asylum? Zombies, internet trolls, Storm Troopers… The metaphor is the same.

When so many people seem to counter our intuition, it’s no surprise we end up giving in. The question “how can I be right and everyone else be wrong?” is assumably asked on a widespread basis, and this doubt creates the beginning of the vicious cycle, where a stressful, zombifying routine is disguised as the “safe” road.

We’re Either Part of the Solution, or Part of the Problem

We always have a choice, and we can either hide and try to survive, literally becoming what we’re hiding from, or we can find our fellow non-zombies, and work together to find the antidote.

This blog may sound depressing, but in fact that’s not the point, it’s actually to sympathize with our fellow zombies, because they just don’t know better. They mean well, they want to help and their negativity comes from a misconstrued place of love. But the truth does hurt, and only when we start being honest with ourselves can we start to make a change.

Like I said earlier, people are fundamentally good, intelligent and happy to help, but most of them are victims of circumstance. We live in an amazing time, the information age, people all over the world are gaining access to knowledge, and connecting with like-minded individuals is easier than ever, all we have to do is share! This is such a positive, so positive that even if 99% of the world is zombified, there’s still 75 million people out there who can unite and create a positive impact.

Those odds may not seem impressive but people have the amazing ability to work together, build technology, achieve unbelievable feats which contribute to human evolution; zombies can’t, they’re focused on their individual survival.

And maybe I should’ve mentioned this earlier, but the real zombies who live among us can come back to life, no need for armies or bombs, awareness is the true cure. And I know because I used to be one.

If the challenge seems too great, then maybe it’s time to look in the mirror. Because we’re either part of the solution, or part of the problem.